Shelf supporting brackets, specifically for use with light-weight metal shelving systems and designed to be attached to slotted wall uprights, are usually stamped from steel band material. In order to keep the stamping waste as low as possible, the cutting lines are so arranged that brackets alternatingly rotated by 180xc2x0 are produced. Due to this arrangement, one cut will define the upper edges of the cantilever portions of two adjacent brackets, and the next cut, in the longitudinal direction of the band material, will define the lower edges of two adjacent brackets. In order to cause as little waste as possible, also at the edges of the band material, the cutting lines are arranged to extend at an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the steel band.
With this arrangement, a somewhat triangular clipping is generated only between the support portion, i.e. the vertical portion designed to be hooked into the wall upright, of one bracket and that of the next but one bracket.
FR 2 501 984 A discloses a shelf supporting bracket made from flat material, the upper edge of which is provided with a hook portion at one end and a chamfer at the other end. The chamfer is required to permit rotation of the bracket when it is fitted to the corresponding upright.
GB 2 042 876 A shows another shelf supporting bracket with a cut-out at the rear end of its upper edge. The cut-out allows the upper edge portion of the bracket to be bent for reinforcement, except at its rear part which is to engage a wall upright.
It is an object of the invention to reduce material waste in producing shelf supporting brackets from flat material.
To meet this object, the shelf supporting bracket of the present invention comprises a first portion having an attachment part for mounting on a vertical shelving element, and a second portion cantilevering from the first portion, the second portion having a shelf supporting upper edge and, at its free end remote from the first portion an upward projecting shelf retaining hook portion, wherein the upper edge is provided, at its end adjacent the first portion with a notch which corresponds to the hook portion.
Adjacent shelf supporting brackets are positioned relative to each other in the blank in such a way that the upward projecting hook portion extends into the notch of the adjacent bracket. This permits the brackets being stamped to be interleaved more closely, thereby reducing the size of the triangular clippings mentioned above. For a given bracket size, a material saving of about 20% is thus achieved.
The idea of providing a notch corresponding to the hook portion and to stamp pairs of brackets from the blank material in the above way, in order to save material, is not suggested in the art.
In a preferred embodiment, the attachment part has a hook portion extending in a direction opposite to that of the second portion and adapted to be hooked into an opening of a vertical shelving element, the notch being situated entirely within the part of the hook portion which engages in the opening. The notch, which achieves the material saving in the manufacturing process, does not impair the optical appearance of the shelf supporting bracket when mounted in the finished shelving.
In method of manufacturing a shelf supporting bracket according to the invention by cutting a flat material, the cutting lines are so arranged that adjacent brackets, which are mutually rotated by 180xc2x0, abut each other at their upper edges, with the hook portion of one bracket extending into the notch of the other bracket.
Preferably, the brackets are produced from band material and the cutting lines are so arranged that the upper edges of the brackets extend at an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the band, thereby making best use of a band of given width.
A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the single drawing.